Playoffs bring out the best in great players, at least in other major sports.  With his divorce finalized, it sees that Woods is playing with a clear mind and may be reading to run the table towards the FedEx Cup.  For at least the first round, Woods seemed to be back.  He carded four birdies in the first seven holes and, after a bogey on the 12th hole, Woods rebounded with birdies on the 13th and 14th holes and added another on the 18th hole.

Taylor matched Woods in the first round.  After a bogey on the third hole, Taylor made birdies on three of the next four holes.  On the back nine, Taylor made three straight birdies from the 13th to 15th holes, adding another on the 17th hole.

Ryan Palmer, Adam Scott and Brian Gay are tied for third place at five-under par.  Fourteen players are tied at four-under par in sixth place, including Camilo Villegas, Stewart Cink and Davis Love III.  Also with rounds of 67 are Jason Day, Heath Slocum, Chris Couch, John Senden, Jonathan Byrd, D. J. Trahan, Brandt Snedeker, Scott Verplank, Ben Crane, Pat Perez and Scott Piercy.

In what was billed as the start of a new generation in golf, with mainstays Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Ernie Els out of contention.  Kaymer, Watson and Johnson pulled out from the pack as the leaders of that new generation.  Johnson could easily become the new fan favorite, replacing Mickelson.  Kaymer, who shot 70, and Watson, carded a 68, have long been solid players and may now be coming into their own.

Kaymer made three birdies in the first 10 holes to take the lead on Sunday.  A bogey on the 15th hole helped Watson grab a share of the lead.  Watson was two-under par through 12 holes before making birdies on the 13th, 14th and 16th holes.  A bogey on the 17th hole dropped him into the playoff.

Zach Johnson and Rory McIlroy finished a shot out of the playoff at 10-under par.  Johnson made five birdies on the day but three bogeys hurt.  McIlroy, who was trying to become the youngest major championship winner, shot even-par in the final round, with three bogeys and three birdies.  After the two stroke penalty, Johnson slipped into a tie for fifth place with Jason Dufner and Steve Elkington at nine-under par.  Camilo Villegas and China’s Wen-chong Liang tied for eighth place.  Matt Kuchar and Jason Day tied for 10th place at seven-under par.

Nick Watney lost his two-shot lead on the first hole of the final round.  He struggled to an 81 and finished tied for 18th place.  Mickelson shot 67 in the final round to move up into a tie for 12th place.  Mickelson’s strong finish was not good enough to make him the number one ranked golfer.  Woods retained his ranking despite finishing tied for 28th place.  Woods shot 72-73 over the weekend after promising opening rounds.

Kuchar is at eight-under par through two rounds.  After firing 67, five-under par, in the first round, Kuchar started the second round with an early birdie on the second hole.  He finished the front side even-par after a bogey at the sixth hole. Kuchar started the back nine with a par on the 10th and then made three straight birdies from the 11th to 13th holes, before finishing with pars.

Watney is in second place with rounds of 69 and 68.  Dustin Johnson is in contention at a major again, sitting at five-under par and tied for third place with Rory McIlroy, Zach Johnson, Jason Dufner, Bryce Molder, Seung Yul Noh and Simon Khan.  In 10th place at four-under par are Carl Pettersson, Martin Laird, Chad Campbell and Francesco Molinari.

Tiger Woods is tied for 37th place at one-under par through six holes of the second round.  Phil Mickelson improved on his first round 73 with a 69 on Friday to move into a tie for 18th place.  Jim Furyk continues to make his bid for Player of the Year as he is tied for 13th place at three-under par through nine holes of the second round.  Ernie Els slipped in the second round into a tie for 18th place after following an opening round 68 with 74 in the second round.

Players will finish the second round on Saturday morning.

Mahan got better ever round at Firestone.  After a first round 71, he shot 67 and 66 before a bogey-free final round 64.  He started the round three shots behind leaders Ryan Palmer and Sean O’Hair.  After two pars to start, made three straight birdies to get into contention.  He added birdies on the eighth and ninth holes before adding another on the 13th.

Palmer made pars on the final six holes and was unable to catch Mahan.  Palmer finished in second place.  Retief Goosen moved up 13 spots to toe Bo Van Pelt for third place at nine-under par.  O’Hair fell to sixth place with a final round 71.  Jim Furyk and Jeff Overton, two of the best players in the game right now, tied for sixth place at seven-under par.  Peter Hanson finished in eighth place with six players tied for ninth a shot behind him.  In ninth place at five-under par were British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington, Matt Kuchar, Adam Scott and Steve Stricker.

As for Woods and Mickelson…

Mickelson looked poised to take over the top spot on the Official World Golf Rankings after starting the tournament 66-68.  But, a rough final round that featured seven bogeys, a double-bogey and one birdie put the stamp on his number two ranking.  Will Phil ever move into the top spot?  Or, does he really want it?

Woods all but handed Mickelson the reigns to the PGA TOUR with another lackluster performance.  It is obvious that the off-course issues have made their way inside the ropes.  We were blinded by the tie for fourth at the Masters, his first tournament of the season.  Woods may miss the PGA TOUR Playoffs but, more importantly, he may not play in the Ryder Cup.  With two tournaments left to qualify for the Ryder Cup, Woods is on the outside looking in and would, more likely than not, have to rely on Captain Corey Pavin to select him as one of his two picks.  Admittedly, Woods knows he is not playing well enough for the Ryder Cup.  But, maybe…

Woods, once the measure of consistency, has failed to put four solid – Tiger-esque – rounds at any event this year.  He was impressive at the Masters, finishing fourth after not playing for nearly four months.  But, after an uneventful British Open for Woods, he comes into this week with skeptics saying that this will be a window into the PGA Championship.  For Woods, it will be another event which he will try to improve on earlier 2010 performances.  But, for fans, it is another week to see if the “real” Tiger will show.

As for the field, it is filled with the top players in the world.  Phil Mickelson enters the week with yet another chance to take over the top rank in golf.  Anthony Kim returns to action following surgery on his left thumb and hopes to pick up where he left off.  In Kim’s last three events he won the Shell Houston Open, finished third at the Masters and tied for seventh at Quail Hollow Championship.  Lee Westwood is another favorite as the Englishmen has played his way into a position where he could become the top ranked golfer in the world.

Players to watch

Outside of the four players mentioned, look for Rory McIlroy, who plays with Mickelson in the opening round, to continue his run for a player of the year nod.  Also, Rickie Fowler could make a statement on his rookie season with a win at Firestone.  Or, can Jeff Overton break free from second place finishes and finally raise a PGA trophy?

Brendon de Jonge comes into Turning Stone on a roll, with four top 15s in his last five events.  Another player to watch at Atunyote Golf Club this week is Vaughn Taylor, who finished second to Kuchar last year.  Looking to still break through on the PGA TOUR, India’s Jeev Mikha Singh comes to Turning Stone with his only top 10 coming at the World Golf Championship-CA Championship (t-9).  A win would propel Singh into the PGA TOUR Playoffs.

Other names to watch in Upstate New York this week are Jerry Kelly, Andres Romero, D. J. Trahan and David Toms.

Appleby started the final round seven shots behind Overton and made birdies on six of the first nine holes.  He started the back nine with pars on the 10th and 11th holes before making and eagle on the 12th hole.  Overton still held a one shot lead with three holes to go after making three birdies and a bogey in his first 15 holes.

Both players made birdie on the 16th hole but Appleby pulled ahead, and into the history books, with birdies on the final two holes for a final, winning round of 59.  Overton made pars on the last two holes for a second place finish, his third runner-up this season.

Brendon de Jonge continued his solid play with a third place finish.  Five players tied for fourth place at 15-under par.  Tied were Woody Austin, Paul Stankowski, D. A. Points, Roger Tambellini and Jimmy Walker.  Seven players tied for ninth place at 14-under par, including Jim Furyk, Boo Weekley and Pat Perez.  Also finishing at 14-under were Chris Stroud, Pat Perez, Troy Matteson, Aron Price and Charles Howell III.

Appleby carded the fifth 59 in the PGA TOURs history, and second this season.  The win also is the first for Appleby in four years, since the 2006  Houston Open.  Paul Goydos shot golf’s magic number at last month’s John Deere Classic.  Other 59s were Al Geiberger (1977), Chip Beck (1991) and David Duval (1999).

Coming into the week, PGA TOUR players are gearing up for a final push to the FedEx Cup playoffs.  Jim Furyk, a two-time winner this year, can take over the top spot in the points race with a win this week.  Matt Kuchar, who is having a career year, is looking to add a win to his eight top 10s.

Furyk is the top ranked player in the field this week.  Watch for players like Charlie Wi and Brendon de Jonge, who have been knocking and could break through this week.

Petterssen made bogeys on the fourth and seventh holes before turning things around.  He made birdies on the eighth and ninth holes and added another on the 11th before carding three straight birdies on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes.  Wilson traded bogey for birdie on the eighth and ninth holes but lost his lead with bogeys on the 12th and 14th holes.  Pettersson made a bogey on the final hole but Wilson could not convert birdie on any of the final four holes.

With Wilson taking sole possession of second place, Luke Donald moved into third with a final round 66 to get to 12-under par, two shots behind Pettersson.  Tim Clark and Bob Estes fell into a tie for fourth place after shooting 71 in the final round.  They finished at 10-under par with Matt Kuchar, Jeff Quinney, Charlie Wi, Charley Hoffman, Greg Chalmers, Michael Letzig and Bryce Molder.

Clark followed an opening round 66 with a bogey-free 64 to tie Wilson, who shot a second straight round of 65.  Clark started with birdies on the third and fifth holes.  He birdied three of four holes at the turn – on the ninth, 10th and 11th holes, before finishing with a final birdie on the 17th hole.  Wilson birdied the first hole but made his only bogey on the fourth.  He went on to card five birdies on the sixth, 10th, 13th, 15th and 17th holes.

Brent Delahoussaye and Steve Wheatcroft are tied for third place at nine-under par.  Hunter Mahan, J. J. Henry, Rob Grube and Brock Mackenzie are tied for fifth place.  Tim Herron’s 63 moved him up 66 spots into a tie for ninth place at seven-under par with Bob Estes, Matt Jones, Nathan Green and Vance Veazey.

Oosthuizen took control of the tournament with a 67 in the second round and pulled away from the field with a third round 69.  He became an unlikely champion but, that happens in major tournaments.

After 18 holes, it seemed like this year’s Open Championship could have the mark of a classic with Rory McIlroy leading the field with a nine-under par63. Tiger Woods was in the top five through 18, as was John Daly.  But, all would fall off in the second round – McIlroy shot 80 and Woods 73.

It was Oosthuizen who was the picture of consistency.  He was only two shots off McIlroy’s early lead.  Oosthuizen did what players that win needed to do – putt well.  He was nearly perfect from 10-feet in with the short stick all week.

Lee Westwood had another strong finish and is seemingly due for a major title.  McIlroy recovered from that 80 to shoot 69-68 over the weekend to finish tied for third with Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson.  Retief  Goosen took sixth place with Sean O’Hair, Nick Watney, Martin Kaymer and Robert Rock tying for seventh place.  PGA TOUR rookie Rickie Fowler, after shooting 79 in the first round, finished the tournament at four-under par, tied for 14th place.  Woods went on to finish tied for 23rd at three-under par for the week.  Phil Mickelson tied for 48th place at one-over par with Daly and defending Open champion Stewart Cink.

Creamer, at the age of …, was starting to get the label of best player without a major.  She has struggled much of the last season and a half, primarily related to the thumb injury that was re-aggravated at the Honda PTT LPGA Thailand, the first LPGA event of 2010.  After undergoing surgery and missing most of this season, Creamer returned to finish seventh at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.  She tied for 42nd the next week at the LPGA Championship and missed the cut the following week at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.

Creamer regrouped for the U. S. Women’s Open and, after shooting 72 in the first round, shot 70-70-69 to land the elusive major title.  In doing so, Creamer also moved up six spots on the Rolex Rankings to number seven.  In the year of new number one’s on the LPGA, Creamer has added her name to the mix as the top of the rankings are closer than ever.  Cristie Kerr still holds the top spot with Ai Miyazato, Suzann Pettersen, Jiyai Shin, Yani Tseng and Na Yeon Choi filling out the top six spots.  Anna Nordqvist, Song-Hee Kim and Karrie Webb round out the top 10.

The PGA heads to England for The Open Championship

Tiger Woods has continued his struggles in 2010 but will a trip overseas help get the PGA TOUR’s top player back in the winner’s circle?  Or, will Phil Mickelson finally overtake Woods atop the Official World Golf Rankings?

The top players in golf are at the Old Course in St. Andrews for The Open Championship, the PGA TOUR’s third major championship.  Woods is still the top player in the men’s game but the field has caught up.  Mickelson has missed a few chances this year to overtake Woods and become the number one ranked player this season and don’t expect that to change this week.  Mickelson has not played well at the British Open in the past while Woods has won three times at St. Andrews.  But, neither player may win as “the field” has outplayed both players this year.  Lee Westwood and Justin Rose are two of the hottest golfers in the game and would love to win their home country’s championship.  Steve Stricker is coming off a win last week at the John Deere Classic and Ernie Els, Jim Fuyrk and Ian Poulter could all be considered top contenders this week.

Major championships bring out the best players in golf and some that could steal headlines are Ryo Ishikawa, Rory McIlroy, Camilo Villegas, Dustin Johnson, Hunter Mahan or PGA TOUR rookie Rickie Fowler.

Woods is joined by fifth ranked Jim Furyk, Robert Allenby and last year’s runner up Hunter Mahan.  Dustin Johnson is in the field this week looking to erase the U. S. Open from his mind with another win.  As is Justin Rose, who lost last week at the Travelers Championship after holding a three shot lead in the final round.  Other notable players at this week’s AT&T National are Vijay Singh, rookie Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Davis Love III, Ryan Moore and J. B. Holmes.

Aronimik GC was originally designed by Donald Ross in 1928 and was remodeled by Ron Pritchard in 2000.  It has played host to the 1962 PGA Championship, 1977 Men’s U.S. Amateur, 1997 Junior Amateur and the 2003 Senior PGA Championship.  The course measures 6,995 years, playing to a par 70.

Watson started the day three shots behind leader Justin Rose.  Rose played the front side at one-over par but could not keep pace as the Englishman made three bogeys, a double bogey and one birdie on the back nine to shoot 75 and fall into a tie for ninth place.

Watson made two birdies on the front nine.  After a bogey on the 11th hole, he made birdies on four of the next five holes.  A double bogey on the 17th hole brought him back to the field before he finished with a birdie on the final hole.  Pavin, who will captain the United States Ryder Cup team, made five birdies and one bogey in his round of 66 to move into the playoff.  Verplank climbed 11 spots on the final day with two birdies on the front side and two eagles on the back nine for a round of 64.

Pavin was eliminated on the first sudden death playoff hole with Verplank sinking an 8-foot birdie putt to match Watson.  Verplank was not so lucky on the next hole as he missed an 8-foot par putt that would have forced a third playoff hole.  Watson two-putted from 48-feet to make par and land the win.

Chris Riley finished in fourth place after shooting 65 to fall one shot short of the playoff at 13-under par.  Padraig Harrington shot 64 on Sunday to move into a tie for fifth place with Chad Campbell, Retief Goosen and Ricky Barnes.  Rose tied for ninth place with Vaughn Taylor, Brendon de Jonge and Kris Blanks.

Rose struggled with the putter but made two birdies on the front nine, at the fifth and sixth holes.  After the turn, Rose made three pars before a bogey on the 13th hole.  He recovered with a birdie on the 15th hole before finishing with pars.

Curtis moved up eight spots into the final group on Sunday with a bogey-free round of 64, carding six birdies with five coming on the back nine.  Vaughn Taylor is in third place at 11-under par, five shots behind Rose.  Seven players are tied for fourth place at 10-under par, including Ricky Barnes, Bubba Watson and Corey Pavin.  Also at 10-under are Scott McCarron, Brendon de Jonge, Matt Jones and Bill Lunde.

Rose started on the back nine and, after a par on the 10th hole, made five straight birdies from the 11th to 15th holes.  He added birdies on the second and third holes before finishing with another birdie on the ninth hole.

Kevin Sutherland is in second place at 10-under par, four shots behind Rose.  Vijay Singh is tied for third place at nine-under with Corey Pavin, Charlie Wi and Bill Lunde, who shot 63 in the second round.  Vaughn Taylor, Matt Jones and Greg Chalmers are tied for seventh place.  Seven players are tied for 10th place at seven-under par, including Bubba Watson and Steve Elkington.  Also at seven-under par are Joe Durant, Chris Riley, Ben Curtis, Brendon de Jonge and Tim Herron.

Moving Day

It is nice to see Singh near the top of the leaderboard but, can anyone stop Rose?  Padraig Harrington disappeared after sharing the lead after the first round.  Can he rebound?  Wi was with Rose and Harrington after the first round and is five shots back.  Also, watch for rookie Rickie Fowler to make a move.  Fowler regrouped to shoot 65 in the second round, following 71, to move up to a tie for 34th place at four-under par.

Harrington started the day with three straight birdies and made his first bogey on the 14th hole, his fifth.  He added birdies on the 16th, 18th, fourth and fifth holes.  Rose played the front nine at two-under par with birdies on the second and ninth holes.  After a bogey on the 12th, Rose carded five straight birdies before finishing with a par on the 18th hole.

Both Goggin and Wi were bogey-free in the first round.  Goggin made birdies on the first, second and fifth holes to start and added three more on the back side at the 13th, 15th and 17th holes.  Wi started with birdies on the first and fifth holes and, after the turn, dropped birdies on the 10th, 12th, 13th and 14th holes.

Seven players are tied for fifth place with opening rounds of 65, including Vijay Singh, Bubba Watson and Corey Pavin.  Ben Curtis, Kevin Sutherland, Matt Jones and Aron Price join them at five-under par.

Perry has only one top 10 this year at the season opening SBS Championship and finished tied for 33rd at last week’s U. S. Open at Pebble Beach.  Padraig Harrington is the highest ranked player, at 15th in the world, in the field.  In eighth place, Matt Kuchar is the top ranked FedEx Cup points leader playing this week.  Other notable players in Connecticut this week are rookie Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, Hunter Mahan and Retief Goosen.

Also in the field for the Travelers Championship are 2010 PGA winners Bill Haas, Derek Lamely, Jason Bohn and Adam Scott.  Two-time Travelers champion, and reigning British Open champion, Stewart Cink is also at River Highlands this week.

Who will win

Favorites coming into the week are Harrington, Rose and Fowler.  Harrington seems due for a win and Rose and Fowler have played great this season.  Fowler has come close to getting his first PGA win a couple of times this week and the River Highlands course could suit the talented rookie.

McDowell, who hails from Northern Ireland, is  a terrific golfer.  He is not known too much in the US as he plays on the European Tour mostly but, he is ranked in the top 50 in the world and, with a new five-year PGA TOUR exemption, he plans to play more on U. S. soil in 2011.  Similar to last year’s winner – Lucas Glover – McDowell was the best player this week.  He was at the top of the leaderboard all week and pulled ahead as Johnson struggled early in the round.

Hopefully, Johnson can rebound from this and turn in into success for the rest of the season.  It is hard to let one slip away in the manor he did – see Brandt Snedeker in the Masters – but Johnson has won before and is a rising star on the PGA.

Woods and Mickelson just couldn’t tame a very tough Pebble Beach course on Sunday.  What we did learn is that Woods is nearing competitive form and Mickelson still can’t capture that elusive U. S. Open title he wants so bad.

Looking forward to the British Open at St. Andrews, Woods and Mickelson will be considered favorites, along with Lee Westwood.  Woods is going for his third Open Championship on the Old Course.

McDowell, who shot even-par 71 in the first round, started on the 10th tee with a bogey.  He made birdie on the 11th and another bogey at the 12th hole.  Then, McDowell finished the side with birdies on the 14th, 16th and 18th holes to finish the side at two-under par.  He started the second nine with three straight pars followed by birdies on the fourth and sixth holes but, finished the day with a bogey on the final hole.

Mickelson got off to a terrific start.  After a par on the first hole, he made birdies on the next three followed by two more at the sixth and eighth holes.  After a bogey on the ninth hole, Mickelson made birdie on the 10th before finishing with eight straight pars.

Els also made a move with a round of 68 after turning in a 73 in the first round.  Ishikawa shot an even-par, 71, and Johnson shot a one-under par, 70.

Paul Casey and Brendon de Jonge, who both shared the lead after the first round, shot 73 to fall into a tie for sixth place with Alex Cejka, who followed an opening round 70 with 72 in the second round.  Ian Poulter, K. J. Choi and Soren Kjeldsen round out the top 10 at one-over par.

Woods is tied for 26th place with the likes of Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald.  Woods made bogeys on the second and third holes and added his first birdie on the tournament on the seventh hole.  After a birdie on the 11th hole, Woods made a bogey on the 12th before finishing with a birdie at the 14th and a final bogey on theh 17th hole.

Casey started with birdies on the third and fifth holes but finished the front side with a bogey.  After making pars through the 14th hole, he birdied the 15th and made bogey on the 16th before finishing with birdie on the final hole.

Micheel made bogey on the second hole but sank consecutive birdies on the fifth and sixth holes.  He bogeyed the 13th hole and made birdies on the 14th and 15th holes.  Micheel traded bogey for birdie on the 17th and 18th holes.

de Jonge opened the round with five straight pars before making birdies on three of the final four holes of the front nine.  He started the back sied with bogeys on the 10th and 11th holes with another on the 13th.  He bounced back with an eagle on the par-5, 14th hole and finished the round with a bogey on the 16th hole with a birdie on the 17th hole.

Ian Poulter, Ryo Ishikawa and Mike Weir are tied for fourth place at one-under par, part of a seven player tie.  Also at one-under are K. J. Choi, Alex Cejka, Rafael Cabrera-Bello and amateur Hudson Swafford.  Tied at even par are Luke Donald, David Toms, Graeme McDowell, Jason Allred and Dustin Johnson, who has won the last two AT&T National Pebble Beach Pro-Am events.

Woods and Mickelson were both failed by their putters.  For Woods, it was the third time in a major that he finished a round with out a birdie.  Mickelson struck the ball well but could not get a quality roll.  Coming into the week the talk was about how Mickelson possibly overtaking Woods’ top spot in the world rankings.  Now, both have to put up good scores to make the cut, let alone contend.

If there is one thing about golf and major tournaments, it is that Woods will compete to the end to win.  Woods showed his determination this year at the Masters, gutting out a fourth place finish after being removed from competitive golf for four months.  Yes, he was not the same Tiger that showed up in years past but, he put up a similar performance.  It will be no different at the PGA TOUR’s second major tournament of the year – the U. S. Open at Pebble Beach.  The last time the Open was played at Pebble Beach, Woods won by a record 15 shots in 2000.

Mickelson comes into the week as the favorite.  He has played his best golf this year with Woods in the field and, if he doesn’t win, will finish in the top 10.  So, the question is if not Phil or Tiger then who?

There are a number of players coming into the week on high notes, notably Lee Westwood, who won last week.  But, what about Ernie Els?  Els, who finished second to Woods in the 2000 Open at Pebble Beach, has played his best golf in years with wins at the World Golf Championship-CA Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.  Jim Furyk is another veteran that is having a bit of a resurgence this year.  Furyk, who won the U. S. Open in 2003, has wins at the Transitions Championship and Verizon Heritage this year with five other top 20 finishes.  Dustin Johnson is the reigning two-time champion of the AT&T National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach and could be a threat to make it three in a row on Pebble Beach.

Mickelson put himself within reach of Woods by winning the Masters and finishing second a few weeks later at the Quail Hollow Championship.  But since, Mickelson finished tied for 17th place at THE PLAYERS Championship, missed the cut at the Crowne Plaza Invitational and was a non-contending tied for fifth place at the Memorial Tournament.

Woods has not done anything to distance himself from Mickelson.  After a fourth place finish at the Masters, his first event of the season, Woods missed the cut at Quail Hollow and withdrew from THE PLAYERS in the final round.  At the Memorial, Woods tied for 19th place.

The numbers game on the math to overtake the top spot has gotten better every week for Mickelson.  At this week’s U. S. Open at Pebble Beach, Mickelson is the new number one with a victory.  But, he can also overtake Woods with the following results:

• Mickelson finishes second – Woods finishes outside the top four
• Mickelson finishes third – Woods finishes worse than 18th
• Woods misses cut – Mickelson finishes third or better

This may not be the week for Phil though.  Woods has a great history at the U. S. Open and Pebble Beach.  And, Mickelson has never won the Open and the event is where one of his most historic collapses occurred.  But, this season has seen Mickelson play his best golf when Woods is in the field.  And, Woods now has four events under his belt and has seemed to recover from the neck injury that caused him to pull out of THE PLAYERS.

It sets up a must-see event for golf fans.  The PGA TOUR always wins when Woods and Mickelson are contending on Sunday.  They will win big if it happens this week.

Rose was bogey-free in his six-under par final round.  He started the day four shots back and won by three shots.  After four pars to open the round, Rose made birdies on four of the next five holes.  He added birdies on the 14th and 16th holes to secure the win.

Fowler made a bogey on the second hole and settled down with birdies on the sixth and eighth holes to keep the lead.  He started the back side with a bogey on the 10th hole and added a double-bogey on the 12th hole.  Fowler did pick up some momentum with birdies on the 14th and 15th holes but it ended with a bogey on the 16th hole.

Bo Van Pelt and Ricky Barnes finished tied for third place at 12-under par, six shots behind Rose.  Phil Mickelson tied for fifth place at 11-under par with Ryan Moore and Tim Petrovic.  Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar tied for eighth place at 10-under par.  Jim Furyk and Rory McIlroy round out the top 10 at nine-under.

Tiger Woods shot 72 in the final round for and finished tied for 19th place.

Fowler made a bogey on the second hole but then went on a tear with three straight birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes, followed by an eagle on the seventh and another birdie on the eighth hole.  He added birdies on the 14th and 18th holes to grab his share of the lead.

Rose and Ogilvy both started their rounds on the 10th hole.  Rose made bogey to start and carded birdies on the 14th, 16th and 18th holes.  After a par on the first hole, Rose birdied five of the next six holes.  Ogilvy made four birdies in the first nine holes and made the turn with birdies on the first and second holes.  He added birdies on the fifth and seventh holes before making his first bogey of the day on the par-3, eighth hole.

Mickelson is part of a group of five players tied for fourth place at five-under par.  Jason Day, Rory Sabbatini, Andres Romero and Michael Letzin join Mickelson with rounds of 67.  Jim Furyk shot four-under par in the first round and is tied for 9th place with Steve Marino, Sean O’Hair, J. B. Holmes, Fredrik Jacobson and Spencer Levin.

Woods, in his first tournament since withdrawing during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship, got off to a rough start with bogeys on the first and sixth holes.  He made consecutive birdies on the ninth and 10th holes to pull back to even-par as he made par the final eight holes.